Candidates anticipate end of federal stimulus

Topeka  As part of its coverage of the 2010 Kansas governor’s race, the Lawrence Journal-World asked candidates Tom Holland, a Democrat, and Sam Brownback, a Republican, to answer how they will handle the loss of federal stimulus funding in the next fiscal year’s budget. Brownback, currently a U.S. senator, and Holland, currently a state senator from Baldwin City, face off in the November general election. Here are their complete responses.

Statement from Sam Brownback:

“The challenges that we face in Kansas—and indeed in America—are not only very significant, they are of a depth and duration we have not seen for some time. Meeting those challenges will take effort, intensity, and purpose.

“Our state lost more than 50,000 private sector jobs last year while adding government ones. That trend must be reversed. The first priority of a Brownback Administration will be restoring economic growth in Kansas by creating a business environment that the private sector can flourish in and create jobs that provide a meaningful increase in income and opportunity for Kansas families. When we meet with our cabinet, the first question will be, “what are we doing today to help grow jobs in our state?”

“During our time in office, we will work in full partnership with the Kansas Legislature to create policies and initiatives that have a hard focus on our areas of concentration that will drive the results of our Kansas Report Card: Growing the Kansas Economy, Excelling in Education, Reforming State Government, and Protecting Kansas Families.

“The following actions will be our administration’s top priorities to Grow the Kansas Economy:

· Implement the Strategic Economic Development Plan.

· Pursue new economic opportunities. We will involve ourselves personally in keeping our local businesses vibrant and in attracting new businesses to the State.

· Reform the tax code. Capital and jobs flee to states with low overall tax rates and the right mix of taxes.

· Create Rural Free Enterprise Zones. These zones would be an effort to provide rural areas with declining populations an opportunity to find the right tax and economic development resource mix to help kick start growth in their regions.

· Support the competitiveness and growth of the aviation manufacturing sector in Kansas. We will work to ensure that Kansas remains the premier location for the design and manufacture of general and business aviation aircraft, military trainer aircraft, large commercial aerostructures as well as the modification and maintenance of military aircraft.

· Promote energy development and growth in wind power and ethanol. We will work to promote responsible energy development from every available source of energy, including traditional sources such as oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear.

· Work with the private sector to expand of the state’s broadband network.

· Expand the military-intellectual complex around Fort Leavenworth and the Command and General Staff College.

· Work to expand access to affordable health insurance options for businesses and individuals.

“While we won’t have accurate data for the next governor’s budget until November when the next Consensus Revenue Estimate Report is released, it’s no secret that government spending in 2012 is projected to be hundreds of millions of dollars more than expected revenues. Upon taking office we will immediately institute a state general fund spending freeze and review revenue and spending estimates to take necessary steps to produce a balanced budget. We also will make use of Executive Reorganization Orders to make state government’s functions and structure better reflect the needs of Kansans.

“Should balancing the budget require a spending reduction, there will be no easy choices. We will protect state government’s core functions like education, social services and public safety by focusing cuts on lower priority programs. It's worth noting that during the past two budget cycles, no requirements in the Kansas budget have been eliminated outright. State government needs to do fewer things and do them better.

Statement from the campaign of Tom Holland and lieutenant governor running mate Kelly Kultala, a state senator from Kansas City, Kan.:

“Tom and Kelly were proud to have worked in a bipartisan fashion with a majority of Republicans in the State Senate to pass a multi-year revenue package to balance the budget. With the budget balanced, a multi-year plan in place and new transportation projects about to begin, we expect Fiscal Year 2012 to be very manageable. Because of the bipartisan work accomplished this past session, drastic cuts to schools, public safety and services for our most vulnerable will not be necessary.”

Comments

Holland brushes off the question by saying we will not have a problem, but if we do, we will do what I've done in the past and that is raise taxes At least Brownback gave a thoughtful answer which laid out his plans and views. thank you SAM BROWNBACK for your answer.

Nowhere did Tom Holland say anything about raising taxes. Republicans have been the biggest spenders of tax dollars in the history of the USA since 1980.

Brownback did not offer specifics just more rhetoric. Most of which he stated is already in place.

Judging from his comments about the military he wants to participate in even more defense spending = massive tax dollar moneyhole

Out west of Salina there is a huge wind power operation that extends for several miles. Nuke and Coal power are too expensive which increases the cost of doing most everything. AND I don like that tax dollars must finance construction,maintain and insure these two energy sources.... reckless use of tax dollars.

Considering how the economy fell apart under the nose of Brownback and Moran why could we expect anything different from these career politicians who never leave the tax dollar payrolls and sweet sweet retirement packages.

If you study the facts you likely would not vote republican for several decades.

Study these facts and you will understand my position. Repubs are not repubs. They became radical right wing in 1980 and never looked back. All the while ripping apart our economy and watching millions upon millions of jobs go abroad.

The Global Economy and Reagnomics are absolute failures for the USA!!!

This is what I mean:

The Reagan/ Bush Savings and Loan Heist
"There are several ways in which the Bush family plays into the Savings and Loan scandal, which involves not only many members of the Bush family but also many other politicians that are still in office and were part of the Bush Jr. administration.

Jeb Bush, George Bush Sr., and his son Neil Bush have all been implicated in the Savings and Loan Scandal, which cost American tax payers over $1.4 TRILLION dollars (note that this was about one quarter of our national debt").

The Bush/Cheney Wall Street Bank Fraud on Consumers
"And, yes, substantial fraud was involved. For example, mortgage companies and banks used deceit to get people to take on mortgages when there was no possibility that the borrowers would be able to meet the payments. Not only was this fraud, but this fraud depended on government authorities ignoring their regulatory responsibilities."
http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2009/0709macewan.html

Only 3 major Financial Institutions Were at Risk In Spite of What Were Told ?
"There were just a handful of institutions that were terribly weakened. AIG the insurer, Bank of America, Citigroup, those three were clearly in very weakened form. So, many of the other big banks were not.
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/10/good_billions_after_bad_one_year

Privatizing Social Security Would Place the Nations Economy at Risk
"Social Security privatization will raise the size of the government's deficit to nearly $700 billion per year for the next 20 years, almost tripling the size of the national debt.

Op-Ed Contributor
Why We Need a Second Stimulus
By LAURA TYSON
Published: August 28, 2010

The primary cause of the labor market crisis is a collapse in private demand — the same problem that bedeviled the economy in the 1930s. In the wake of the financial shocks at the end of 2008, spending by American households and businesses plummeted, and companies responded by curbing production and shedding workers.

By late 2009, in response to unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimulus, household and business spending began to recover. But by the second quarter of this year, economic growth had slowed to 1.6 percent, according to a government estimate issued Friday. Clearly, the pace of recovery is far slower than what is needed to restore the millions of jobs that have been lost.

Households and businesses are on a saving spree to rebuild their balance sheets.

The situation would be even worse without the $787 billion fiscal stimulus package passed in 2009. The conventional wisdom about the stimulus package is wrong: it has not failed. It is working as intended.

Its spending increases and tax cuts have boosted demand and added about three million more jobs than the economy otherwise would have. Without it, the unemployment rate would be about 11.5 percent. Because about 36 percent of the money remains to be spent, more jobs will be created — about 500,000 by the end of the year.

Two forms of spending with the biggest and quickest bang for the buck are unemployment benefits and aid to state governments. The federal government should pledge generous financing increases for both programs through 2011.

Federal aid to the states is especially important because they finance education. Although the jobs crisis is primarily a crisis of demand, it also reflects a mismatch between the education of the work force and the education required for jobs in today’s economy. The supply of college graduates is not keeping pace with demand. Therefore, more investment in education could reduce both the cyclical unemployment rate, as more Americans stay in school, and the structural unemployment rate, as they graduate into the job market.

An increase in government investment in roads, airports and other kinds of public infrastructure would be cost-effective, too, as measured by the number of jobs created per dollar of spending. A 2008 study by the Congressional Budget Office found that, on strict cost-benefit grounds, it would make sense to increase annual spending on transportation projects alone by 74 percent.

Over the next five years, the federal government should work with state and local governments and the private sector to finance $1 trillion worth of additional investment in infrastructure. It should extend the Build America Bonds stimulus program, which in the past year has helped states finance $120 billion in infrastructure improvement.

I do not trust government accounting and auditting. In an article published this spring, it was reported that accountants working for the State were being paid 89% of the average pay for an accountant.

Several years ago, the State did away with the degree requirement for an accountant. As a result the State auditor or accountant may not have the education to efficiently do their job. Also look at other government accountants qualifications for USDs, townships, cities and counties. Is the accounting personel qualified to operate the financial system and know if and that they are producing flawed financial information about their organization? This flawed information may be the reason for the need to increase taxes.